Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Lives That Matter

Thus far, I have refrained from commenting on the violence
and distrust between black civilians and police officers. This was mainly due
to the fact that I was not a member of either demographic and therefore
probably did not have much to add. In the interest of full disclosure, I probably
still don’t have much to add but feel moved to write this anyway.

What has fueled this fire more than anything is our desire to
adapt unfolding narratives into our existing worldview instead of allowing our
worldview to be shaped by the circumstances of each individual event. The “lives
matter” movements of both the black and blue persuasion have a tendency to canonize
their representatives, in part, by demonizing those on the other side of the
issue.

This is often accomplished utilizing succinct Facebook memes that (depending
on your ideological persuasion) decry the shooting victims as “thugs” whose bad
choices brought their inevitable demise upon them or the officers as “violent
racists” who are allowed to carry out their darkest impulses with impunity simply
because they have a badge.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to serve as a police
officer. To begin every shift knowing that I will spend the majority of my time
interacting with people who – at best – are unhappy to see me and at worst wish
me bodily harm. The split second decisions they make under duress will be
endlessly scrutinized by a public that seems far more willing to magnify their
mistakes than celebrate their triumphs. Their families must learn to co-exist
with the nagging thought that one day they may get the call that they most
fear. The call that their mommy, daddy, sister, brother, son, daughter, husband
or wife has been taken from them. That all of their hopes and plans for the
future have been shattered by a traffic stop gone horribly wrong.

Just as foreign to me as being a police officer is the
overwhelming fear that I might suffer abuse at the hands of one. I have no idea
what it is like to feel targeted by law enforcement because of my skin. To live
with the knowledge that I may not be given the benefit of the doubt afforded to
those of a different ethnicity. I cannot fathom growing up around relatives
whose basic rights were violated by those sworn to protect them. In a wry
irony, they too fear the same call. The call that their mommy, daddy, sister,
brother, son, daughter, husband or wife has been taken from them. That all of
their hopes and plans for the future have been shattered by a traffic stop gone
horribly wrong.

I was struck by the poignant statements made by Parkland
Hospital surgeon Dr. Brian Williams in the wake of the Dallas police shootings.
While being recognized for his heroic efforts to save the murdered officers, he
offered this:

“There's this dichotomy where I'm standing with law
enforcement, but I also personally feel that angst that comes when you cross
the path of an officer in uniform and you're fearing for your safety. I've been
there, and I understand that,"

He detailed what it was like to be treated differently when
he shed his white coat and was just another black male behind the wheel of a
car. I could not dismiss his perception simple because I was unable to duplicate it. Instead I was forced to wrestle with its origins.

Along the same lines, I recently served as a jury foreman for a Federal
criminal case. The defendant was a black male and the case centered on a
traffic stop ostensibly initiated due to seatbelt violation observed by a
stationary officer several hundred feet away at night. Our jury was made up of
black and white individuals of both genders and while the “I just happened to
spot the absence of a seatbelt” narrative didn’t hold water among any of us, it
was apparent that baseless traffic stops and fear of the police was something
that the black members of our group were more acutely aware of.

Ultimately, we reached a unanimous guilty verdict but I was
reminded by the reaction of my fellow jurors that there is a validity to these
fears that I can be too quick to dismiss.

The truth is that both sides must take time to process what
happened before reflexively branding their surrogate as a victim. Every black
male shot by police is not an innocent bystander publicly executed by a bigoted
cop and not every police officer that pulls the trigger on a black male has
enough (or any) justification for their actions. Until everyone accepts that
reality we cannot begin the process of restoring trust between those who serve
and those they are sworn to protect.